Mathematical models: from sundials to number engines - for iPod/iPhone
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Since the dawn of civilisation, humans have used everyday materials to create mathematical models of the world around them. This album explores the ancient Greeks' astrolabe as a model of the skies; the sundial, to tell the time; Babylonian clay tablets to record wages and trading of sheep; wooden tallies for bulk-buying beer, the Incas' use of knots and string, and the sophisticated number-engine invented by Charles Babbage. This material forms part of The Open University course MST121 Using mathematics.
The sundial as a mathematical model
An ancient mathematical tool to measure the daily and annual cycles of the earth around the sun.
Reading the sky with the astrolabe
How the Greeks invented a two dimensional astrolabe as a conceptual model of the cosmos, and how it was used.
Recording sales in clay tablets
Clay tokens, an ancient system used to record goods changing hands.
Wooden tallies for buying beer
How wholesale beer sales were recorded using notches on wooden tallies.
John Napier's mathematical creations
John Napier's method of multiplication and logarithms, and how Charles Babbage corrected his calculations.
Babbage's engine of precision
Charles Babbage's ingenious mechanical device to compute mathematical equations.